Security and Privacy in IoT and Sensor Networks

Dear Colleagues,

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the most important emerging technologies in recent years. IoT can be thought of as a complex heterogenous ecosystem of interconnected devices that can communicate with each other and with other platforms, in most cases using the Internet. These smart devices are capable of collecting, processing, analyzing, and sharing information.

The literature states that there are around 35 billion IoT devices in 2021 and, going forward, this number is estimated to increase to 75 billion by 2025. Therefore, IoT is growing at a tremendous pace and so are the application scenarios, use cases, and technologies surrounding it. Due to the heterogeneity of devices in the IoT environment, they can be compromised by attackers, so the use of cryptographic primitives (symmetric and asymmetric algorithms, one-way hash functions, blockchain technology, PUF, technology, etc.) is essential to build secure IoT platforms.

In addition, IoT devices and sensors are deployed in most cases in open networks, or in home networks with little or very little security, which makes them vulnerable to physical attacks, compromising user and corporate information. Therefore, how to implement and store cryptographic primitives in IoT devices has grown significantly in importance. Improper implementation of security policies and algorithms can make IoT devices vulnerable to all kinds of attacks, such as physical attacks like side-channel attacks, while improper storage of secrets in the devices' memory can lead to another type of physical attack, such as memory attack. Another possible attack vector could be the devices themselves, devices with a faulty or outdated design can be a good target for attackers, it would therefore be desirable to have guidelines, best practices or design patterns for the development of IoT devices to ensure that they are secure and ensuring privacy in their construction. Other types of attacks come from bugs in the development of the applications and software that support the IoT devices or platform. As an example, if a device provides a front-end web application, flaws in that application would allow attackers to access the devices and information, even allowing them to steal credentials and access the device and the IoT network.

This special issue aims to publish research and scientific implementations that contribute to secure detection, secure key generation, secure identification, efficient authentication, privacy assurance, and secure communication from a cyber-physical security point of view in the IoT network. Authors can submit papers in the areas of hardware or software security, cyber/physical security approaches for cyber-physical systems, efficient design and implementation of PUFs, cryptographic protocols, machine learning and IoT security, attacks and cryptanalysis of PUFs, effective software designs for security and privacy, best practices and software design patterns for IoT devices, blockchain-based protocols, and other related areas.

Dr. Diego Martín
Guest Editor

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• IoT 
• Security 
• Privacy 
• IoT attacks 
• Cryptography